


Matsuoka Rin and His Collection of Idiot Friends

by brumalbreeze



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-23
Updated: 2014-12-23
Packaged: 2018-03-03 00:18:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2831237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brumalbreeze/pseuds/brumalbreeze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Oooh, but Rin-chan, you just don’t understand!” Nagisa languished and flopped down on the small table between them. </p><p>“No,” Rin said in a flat tone, “I’m pretty sure I do. Since you’ve done nothing but go on and on about this guy for the past hour.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Matsuoka Rin and His Collection of Idiot Friends

**Author's Note:**

> I saw [this post](http://brumalbreeze.tumblr.com/post/105297297142/please-read-the-actual-cutest-thing-i-found-on-yak) on Tumblr, and knew I needed to write a story for Rei and Nagisa based on it. 
> 
> Thanks to [paranormowl](http://www.paranormowl.tumblr.com) for beta-reading!
> 
> (My commissions are open! If you would like to have me write you a fic, [please see here](http://algidwind.tumblr.com/commissions)!)
> 
> Also on [Tumblr](http://algidwind.tumblr.com/post/105942209928/matsuoka-rin-and-his-collection-of-idiot-friends).

“Oooh, but Rin-chan, you just don’t under _stand_!” Nagisa languished and flopped down on the small table between them. He carefully snaked his arm across the surface so he wouldn’t accidentally knock anything over. Nagisa rested his cheek against his upper arm and peeked up at Rin.

Rin, to his credit, didn’t even bat an eyelash at his friend’s theatrics and continued to eat his lunch calmly. He glanced at Nagisa. “No,” he said in a flat tone, “I’m pretty sure I do. Since you’ve done nothing but go on and on about this guy for the past hour.”

Dramatically, Nagisa sighed again. “See, that just means that you don’t get it….”

The redhead rolled his eyes and ate more of his rice.

“He’s so _wonderful_ and _dreamy_ …. And tall and handsome and serious-looking, and _oooh_ , Rin-chan, I know he’s just _perfect_ for me!” Nagisa swooned and sighed. “I always see him when I get out of my afternoon class on Tuesdays, and he always looks so good!”

“Why don’t you just ask him out then, if you’re so into him?”

Immediately, Nagisa gasped and sat straight up, very nearly knocking Rin’s plate over. “Oh my _god_ , Rin-chan! How could you just say something like that!” He pressed his hands against his face and gave Rin a scandalized look.

Grumpily, the taller man moved his food closer to himself. “Nagisa, you literally have no qualms about asking people out _ever_ , so what’s the deal now?”

“Uuugh,” Nagisa groaned despairingly and slid down in his chair. “He just seems so perfect, and I don’t wanna mess up or anything! Besides,” he said with a pout, “I don’t even know if he’s into guys….”

Rin watched as Nagisa hunched his shoulders petulantly and shrank in on himself. He’s only ever seen Nagisa so self-conscious and worried when he was actually serious about pursuing anyone. He figured it was about time to get more serious with Nagisa as well. Rin sighed.

“Look, complaining to me isn’t going to get you any closer to figuring out whether he’s interested in guys or not, so just ask him out the next time you see him or something. It’s not like you have anything to lose.”

“Except for all my hopes and dreams of getting together with him and starting a beautiful future together…” the blond said in a wispy, faraway voice.

Rin snapped his fingers impatiently in front of Nagisa’s glazed eyes. “Get your ass back on Earth and then maybe you’ll actually have a chance of going out with him.”

The blond laughed cheerfully and leaned eagerly over the table, all excitement and energy again. “Okay, Rin-chan,” he said with sparkling eyes, “I’ll try, but if I get rejected, you’d better make sure you’re there to cheer me back up again!”

His friend rolled his eyes. “You’re saying that as if you don’t always come crying to me anyway.”

“Oh, but that’s because you _looove_ me, Rin-chan!”

“Yeah, sure,” he said. “And stop trying to steal my food,” Rin continued, smacking Nagisa’s wandering hand from his meal.

“Ow!”

“It’s called ‘tough love,’ you little punk.”

Nagisa just stuck his tongue out at the redhead and laughed again.

 

* * *

 

Nagisa stared at himself critically in the bathroom mirror, checking and double-checking if he looked okay. It had been a week since he had lunch with Rin, and his friend had encouraged him to ask his crush out. Nagisa was _really_ serious about this guy. He had spent the previous night picking and choosing an appropriate outfit to wear and had even woken up early to properly tame his hair.

The whole week, he imagined and reimagined how the entire sequence would go down. He would boldly go up to the taller man (So _tall and_ so _handsome_ , Nagisa swooned and blushed while smiling sillily) and ask him out. And of course, his crush would agree. There was no way he would refuse to go out with someone as adorable and charming as Nagisa.

He couldn’t wait to hear his crush’s voice and learn his name. At the mere thought of being able to hear the other man’s voice, Nagisa jumped around in the bathroom and squeaked excitedly.

 _Today’s the day_ , he thought to himself after calming down. He smiled and made sure his bangs were as soft and fluffy as they could possibly look. His heart pounded furiously in his chest.

 

* * *

 

He was feeling a lot more nervous than he anticipated, and Nagisa had been even less capable of paying attention in class than he was on a normal day. There were a few times that he started panicking when he thought about the off-chance that his crush wouldn’t be standing out there. What if his class had been cancelled? Or he was sick and couldn’t make it? Then Nagisa would have to wait for another entire week! He didn’t think his heart could handle such suspense.

Nagisa almost died when the professor released them, and he bolted up the stairs to get out of the lecture hall. After composing himself so that he wasn’t breathing as hard as if he just finished a vigorous set of 50-meter sprints in the pool, he started scanning the area for a tall, bespectacled man.

Nagisa’s crush always stood in the shade outside of the lecture hall, so it wouldn’t be hard to tell if he was present or not.

His heart stopped momentarily when he confirmed that yes, the man was indeed standing there and reading a book, just as he usually was. Then it started again, and Nagisa thought he was going to pass out from how fast it was beating.

Still, he steeled himself with a deep breath and forced his shaking legs to walk toward the man who had, without even knowing it, stolen his heart and soul. Discreetly, he wiped his hands on his shorts, straightened out his casual button-up (which he had even _ironed_ last night), and tried not to look like he was going to throw up.

 _Oh god, he looks even more gorgeous up close_ , Nagisa thought as he stopped unsteadily in front of the taller man. He took a second to admire how strong the taller man’s jaw looked, how absolutely regal his nose was, and how soft and pleasant his lips were. His dark and beautiful hair looked artistically messy and _perfect_ for Nagisa to run his fingers through. His mouth dried up, and every word he had ever learned in his life decided to run away from him at that very moment.

He cleared his throat softly, attracting the man’s attention. The blond swore he nearly fainted when critical and curious eyes the color of melted amethysts glanced down at him. His crush’s dark eyebrows were pinched together slightly from concentration, but once he realized someone was standing in front of him, he politely relaxed them and lowered his book.

“Yes?” he asked in a smooth, velvety voice.

Nagisa made an embarrassing noise that sounded like he was dying. If melted chocolate had a voice, he was sure it would be this guy’s.

Nagisa had prepared a speech before, and it started with something like, “Hi! I’m Hazuki Nagisa, and I think you’re super attractive!” and ended with a line that went, “Here’s my number and email address, so hit me up and we can have lunch this Friday!” Instead of any of that, however, he turned bright red and stammered something that vaguely sounded like, “Will you go out with me?” except that it was all slurred together and barely coherent.

The other man looked confused for a second, suddenly realized what Nagisa had just asked, and froze.

Both of them stood in utter mortification as a soft blush rose to the taller man’s cheeks, and he nearly dropped his book.

“I-I’m sorry, I—” he stuttered in half-aborted syllables. He reached up to fix his glasses and swallowed furiously.

Nagisa’s entire body went cold, and hot, then cold again. He vaguely registered that he laughed and waved his clammy hand around. “No! No, it’s okay! Sorry for coming onto you like that all of a sudden! I gotta go now, so bye!” he squeaked, and then he ran away without another glance back.

 

* * *

 

“Oooh, but Rin-chan!” Nagisa despaired and cried into his phone while lying on his bed. “I was dressed all nice and everything too! I even gelled my hair!” he sighed sadly.

“ _Hey man, then it’s his loss, you know_.”

Nagisa heaved out another deep breath and rolled onto his back. He pulled at the hem of his t-shirt and frowned at the ceiling. “Well, it’s not like I can blame him or anything. We don’t even know each other, and maybe he _doesn’t_ like guys….”

“ _Yeah_.”

“It’s just such a shame, you know?”

“ _Yeaaah…._ ” This time, Rin sounded a little more dubious.

“Rin-chan, _we could have had it a—_ ”

Immediately, the redhead’s voice cut him off. “ _No, don’t you_ dare _, Nagisa. I am not going to deal with your crappy song quotations right now._ ”

Nagisa snorted and grabbed a pillow to hug to his chest. He sighed for the third time in two minutes. “I’m just tryna make myself feel better!” His voice grew small. “Well, it sucks that he rejected me, but at least I tried….” He sniffled a little.

“ _You did your best, so don’t beat yourself over it. You’ll find someone eventually._ ”

“Mmn. Thanks Rin-chan. But you know, I got to see his hands, right? And they were so big and pretty, like, I swear they could probably _wreck_ me if he really—”

“ _BYE, Nagisa_ ,” Rin’s tinny voice snarled at him.

The blond burst out laughing. Making Rin uncomfortable never failed to make him feel better.

“Sorry, just teasing,” he smiled. “Thanks for talking to me, Rin-chan. I’ll see you tomorrow for lunch?”

“ _Yeah, sure. See you later._ ”

“Bye!”

The line went quiet, and Nagisa took the phone from his face. He plopped the pillow over his head and sighed sadly. He never even found out the name of his crush.

 

* * *

 

Rin walked into a small teahouse on campus and scanned the crowd for his friend. He spotted him sitting in the far back of the store. Rin made his way over and sat down.

“Hey.”

“Oh—” his friend replied, looking a bit frazzled and strung-up. “Hello, Rin-san.” He was clutching at his own cup of tea. There was another beverage set in front of Rin’s seat.

“What’s up? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

The other man laughed a little too loudly. “No! Nothing of the sort. Don’t be silly.”

Unconvinced, Rin cocked an eyebrow and kicked his friend on the shin under the table. “Stop acting all weird and spit it out. What’s up?”

“Oh, well,” he said haltingly, first fixing his glasses, then running a nervous hand through his hair thereby knocking his glasses askew, and finally adjusting his frames again, “I just had a strange meeting with someone today is all.”

“Rei,” the redhead said flatly after taking a sip from the drink his friend had bought for him in advance, “you look like you’re going to pass out from anxiety right now.” He fleetingly wondered why his friends were having mental breakdowns all at once.

“I know, I’m sorry, I just—” He stopped and breathed in deeply to calm his nerves. Rei looked up at Rin once, looked away, and then settled for staring at his cup instead. In a very small, very shy voice he said, “I was… confessed to earlier. That is—romantically.”

Rin paused.

“I was just standing outside and waiting to enter my classroom as usual, you see, when a rather… um, _attractive_ young man came up to me suddenly. He startled me quite a bit, since I was so absorbed in reviewing the next chapter of my physics textbook, but he just sort of cleared his throat, and there he was, just standing there.” He hesitated and breathed in. “He had such _beautiful_ eyes that I couldn’t really think straight for a moment, and then he asked me out and, oh!” Rei let out a cry and almost spilled his drink when he took his hands away from his cup and buried his face in them.

While looking at him critically, Rin slowly moved the cup away from his distraught friend.

“Rin-san, I am _such_ an idiot! I was so nervous that I accidentally blubbered out ‘I’m sorry,’ and I think he mistook me, because he just ran off after that! And class was starting, so I couldn’t even chase after him and apologize….”

He let out a despairing sob, and Rin made an equally frustrated noise while rubbing his forehead.

“Why me?” Rin groaned and sighed. He took out his cell phone and scrolled through his messages. “Rei, the guy who confessed to you, was he short, blond, and really obnoxiously loud?”

For a second, Rei lowered his hands and peered through his fingers. “W-Well, I wouldn’t say _obnoxiously_ loud, but…. Yes? He was short and blond?”

“Freakin’ hell,” the redhead muttered as he tapped out a text. “Do you have class during fourth and fifth period tomorrow?”

> _I’m cancelling our lunch plans tomorrow_.

Rei was extremely confused by how distracted Rin was, but he still answered. “No, I only have classes in the morning….”

> (ﾟoﾟ) **_Why, Rin-chan? I was looking forward to crying to you again!_**

> _Because everyone I know is a freakin’ idiot, and I’m giving you a second chance._

> **_??? What do you mean?_ **

> _Nothing. Just go to the same place where you confessed to your LITERALLY stupid crush at the same time as yesterday._

 “Good,” Rin said to Rei. He locked his phone and ignored the next message that came through on it. “Then go stand outside your classroom again tomorrow at the time you usually do when you have class.”

The dark-haired man looked confused. “Why?”

“So you can redeem yourself, you idiot of a nerd,” Rin said.

Rei puffed up, offended. “Rin-san, that is _not_ very nice to say, and I do not understand what you are trying to—”

With a world-weary sigh, the redhead said, “Just do it. And thank me for it later.”

Confused, Rei closed his mouth and said no more.

 

* * *

 

After his last class of the day, Rei had headed back to the same spot he had been at the day before, just as Rin had instructed him. For the rest of their meeting, Rin had not told him anything more other than to “dress up a little.” Rin then mysteriously muttered, “You’ll probably kill him on the spot, but whatever,” but when Rei asked him what he meant, the redhead wouldn’t explain any further.

So now, Rei found himself standing stiffly in a perfectly coordinated outfit and his hair neatly combed, though he simply couldn’t manage to get rid of the cowlick on the back of his head. His fingers itched to take out his phone and text Rin or something, but instead, he glanced down at his watch.

It was in the middle of the day, but since he was there a little early, classes were still in session. As a result, the courtyard in front of the lecture hall was empty.

Rei startled a little. The courtyard was not _entirely_ empty. There was someone who was walking toward the building, looking a bit lost and nervous himself. Rei swallowed. He wouldn’t be able to forget someone was handsome and charming as the person who tried to ask him out the day before. But what was he doing here?

Without realizing it, Rei had walked out from the shade of the building and met with the other man halfway. He had meant to say something—apologize for being an idiot, perhaps—but once he was facing the blond, he found himself at a loss of words.

The shorter man’s hair looked even more gorgeous in the sunlight. It practically shone. Rei was fascinated by how soft and touchable it looked. The blond’s brilliant pink eyes trapped him in place.

They stared at each other for an embarrassingly long amount of time in silence. Suddenly, both of them blurted something out.

“Sorry about yesterday!”

“I apologize for my rude behavior the day before!”

There was a beat, and then both of them laughed. Rei decided that the blond had the most beautiful laugh he had heard in a long, long time. He took the chance to try speaking first.

“Sorry again, for interrupting you. Um. You… Yesterday, I didn’t mean to reject you…. I was just incredibly nervous.”

A look of utter disbelief graced the blond’s face. He flushed redder than before and stammered, “W-Wait, you—you _didn’t_ want to reject me? As in, you’d be okay with going out with me?” He sucked in a shallow breath and held it.

Rei lifted his hand to his face and pushed his glasses up. “If… If you don’t mind someone like me, then…. Yes….”

The shorter boy leaned in closer on his tip-toes, his eyes shining and mouth parted incredulously. “ _You’d go out with me?_ ” he asked again, as if he couldn’t believe it.

At their close proximity, Rei couldn’t help but to lean back a little and blush harder. Nervously, he stammered out, “Yes?”

The blond breathed in deeply again, mere inches away from Rei’s face, and said one last time, “ _Will you go out with me?_ ”

Whether it was because of the sun or because of how embarrassed he was, Rei couldn’t be sure, but his face burned as he was asked out again. He swallowed and smiled slightly. “Yes.”

Suddenly, the blond stepped back, _squealed_ , and danced a cute little victory dance. “He said yes! He said yes!” he kept squeaking, spinning in place and rubbing his cheeks furiously. Rei felt his heart fluttering in his chest happily. It jerked abruptly when he saw the shorter man accidentally trip and start falling.

Instinctively, he reached out and caught the blond. He gasped, “Please be careful!” and steadied him.

There was a pause, and then the shorter man threw his arms around Rei’s back and buried his face into his chest. The blond’s hair—which Rei realized, were indeed very soft and smelled incredible—tickled the underside of his chin. They were standing so close, and Rei had no idea what to do with his own hands. He felt like he was probably going to die from mortification.

From below him, a shy, muffled voice floated up to him. “I’m Hazuki Nagisa, by the way.”

Rei swallowed and cleared his throat, finally settling his hands gingerly on Nagisa’s back. “Ryuugazaki Rei.”

Nagisa squeezed him even more tightly and giggled.

 

* * *

 

Rin’s phone buzzed on his desk, and he picked it up to see that Nagisa had texted him. He opened the message.

A blurry picture of Rei and Nagisa greeted him. Nagisa looked like he was trying to merge into Rei’s side, and Rei appeared like he was going to pass out. His hand awkwardly rested on the blond’s shoulder.

He scrolled down.

> **_GUESS WHO HAS A BOYFRIEND NOW????_ **

Rin snorted.

> _Aren’t you jumping the gun a little?_

> **_NOPE!!! REI-CHAN AND I ARE TOTAL BOYFRIENDS NOW!!! ALSO, HE SAYS ‘THANKS’!!!!!!_ **

> _Both of you owe me dinner now._

> **_OKAY!!!_** ♡ ♡ ♡

> **_Btw, Rei-chan gives the BEST hugs, and his hands are SO huge, omg. I can’t wait to tell you about how good they feel. Omg omgggggg._ **

Rin groaned and put his phone down. Sometimes, he wasn’t sure if he was being punished or rewarded for being a good friend.


End file.
